Strawberry Lip Gloss
by RoseGoldExile
Summary: Caroline POV set during chapter 26 of Effervescent. Caroline makes some very, very, shocking connections that lead to a truth she hadn't been expecting. I hope you guys love it.


**A/N: That was fast. Shout out, MAJOR congrats to Pyrvmids for getting the answer right. Also to Hotcocoa6904! They were the first ones (don't kill me) and there was NO guessing. They were absolutely sure and I commend you. This is set in Chapter 26 of Effervescent during Bonnie's flashback. It was Caroline who knew, and if you go back, I'll bet you'll even notice when and where. **

**Or you can read this.**

Strawberry Lip Gloss: Caroline POV

Bonnie Bennett was wearing an olive green, one hundred percent cotton, Foreign Exchange button down shirt with nine just as green if not greener buttons. Her skirt was from Charlotte Russe, was also cotton, and was black and pleated. Her ankle boots were Charlotte Russe too and were the exact ones I'd been eyeing about two weeks ago online.

Bonnie Bennett had a boyfriend.

No seriously, I'm not joking, and it was hard for me to believe to, but that's what it was. I grew up with her, loved her like a sister, and I knew the type of things she wore. She was the girl with the peasant tops that didn't flatter her figure, and don't pretend you don't know the one I'm talking about. The one with the fuck ugly flowers on it that look like Limited Too rejects.

What made everything so bad was that, even though Elena and I had tried on every occasion we could to get her out of it, it never worked. She was comfortable with puffy sleeves and designs that looked like notebook covers. She had the legs of a goddess and covered them in Old Navy flares. Here shoes were usually clunky wedges that only she would bother wearing.

I could not. I. Could. Not.

But lately, ever since she and Douchebag Salvatore had gotten back from their doppelganger info recon mission, she's been dressing like…well…me. And I'm not conceited, so don't think I am. It's just one of those things that's fact. There wasn't a Foreign Exchange or a Charlotte Russe for miles. FOR. MILES. I did all of my shopping online and if the rest of these bitches were smarter, they'd do it to.

That's beside the point.

Bonnie Bennett had a boyfriend and I knew it. Girls only straighten their hair for three reasons. Formal occasions, to get through the week, or when they had boys to impress. That last one sounds off, but trust me, boys hate hairstyles. How the hell do you think Elena's gotten best hair every year even when she _isn't_ a senior. Trust me, this is science.

And while Bonnie could pretend she didn't have one, I knew better. I could hear like, smell love, and see sex all at the same time. From what I was getting from Bonnie, she was falling in love but still had her virginity. He'd gotten in her pants a couple times but…from the length of that skirt it's only been heavy foreplay and from the looks of that shirt she's keeping her feelings to herself for the moment.

I was just wondering who she thought she was fooling.

Probably anyone who didn't pay attention, like Elena. Loved her too, just as much a sister as Bonnie, but if it wasn't about Stefan then it really didn't matter. I mean she had her drama going on, but she was blind as a bat sometimes. Becoming a vampire didn't make me neglect the world I lived in, it tuned me into more. I knew everything that was going on with my friends.

Don't believe me?

Matt's screwing the girl in his literature class. How do I know? Because I can see it in his walk and in his eyes. He's not as tense as he was before and he _definitely_ had loosened up in the walk department. Both of those equaled sex and you can ask anyone with eyes. The girl's name was irrelevant, just like she'd be in about…maybe three more months.

I could be pessimistic, I like to see Matt happy.

Stefan was on his humanity kick again, but he and Elena were back to having pretty regular sex. I knew she considered breaking up with him like twice because he kept using her as a reason be all down all the time, but I told her to stick with him because really, who else was going to keep the danger whore satisfied.

And Elena was a danger whore. I mean that in the nicest way possible. She's just one of those girls who isn't content with being in reality. She wants to go on wild adventures with a James Dean look a like and let her hair fly in the wind as they speed away from the bank they just robbed and waving their pistols. It had been like that since we'd seen that one movie on TCM.

Don't ask me which one because I don't care. Right, back to Bonnie.

She looked…out of it, but what else was new? She'd been out of it since her Grams died and I couldn't blame her on that, but this time, I couldn't blame her zoning on a boy. The look in her eyes was confusion and, when I narrowed my gaze, it was a decision she had to make. Judging by the way her shoulders were hunched and she narrowly missed bumping into Conrad Abrams, she had about…maybe a day to make it.

I should get my own show. Really.

After she talked with me and Elena, I pulled Elena to the side. "I've a got a question."

"You've got my shoulder too." She said.

I rolled my eyes and let go with her. "Stefan can spank you, but I can't grab you?"

"Caroline, hush, now what's up?" she asked.

"I think Bonnie has a boyfriend."

Elena stiffed slightly, but enough for me to catch it. "I don't think she has one."

"You suck at lying." I told her. "Like really suck at lying."

"I mean it," Elena said. "I don't think she has one."

"When you lie, your heart beats faster." She said.

"Listening to your friend's hearts isn't cool." Elena said.

"Neither is lying to them." Caroline said. "So who's her boyfriend?"

Elena looked around, pulled me back towards our lockers, and sighed. "You won't say anything?"

"I won't say anything."

"This isn't gossip Caroline, don't say a fucking word."

"I already agreed, bitch, you're wasting time."

Elena sighed again. "It's Jeremy."

Not in those ankle boots. "It is not."

"She and Jeremy went on a date, Caroline. He painted her this amazing picture of her."

In what VH1 Jumpstart themed world did that mean they were in a relationship?

I shook my head. "They aren't dating."

"Well they're about to." She told me. "I already told her she could and that I didn't care."

The fact that Elena assisted in what would eventually be Jeremy's heartbreak was astounding. I shook my head at her.

"Until then," I said giving her a look, "I'm going to operate under her dating someone else."

"Who else could she be dating?" Elena asked. "She hates every boy here."

"Which means he doesn't go here." I said. "She's either got a college boy or some loner freakazoid who indulges her privacy."

Please let it be the college boy.

The day went by pretty quickly, mainly with me being busy with committee stuff and organizing cheer bake sales and car washes, but I somehow managed to keep an eye on Bonnie. Like I'd thought, she wasn't dating anyone in our school. She walked by all the boys and ignored them when they tried to talk to her. Her stride was stiff, her shoulders tense. She was less high school girl and more eighties corporate yuppie. I rolled my eyes and went into the cafeteria.

Matt was there, with some of his other friends and when I approached they left. I was glad they already knew.

"Do you know what's up with Bonnie today?" I asked.

"Something's up with Bonnie?"

"Matt, sweetheart, she's wearing ankle boots and a mini skirt. What have I taught you about those things?"

"If they're in the fall catalog and not paired with the right purse then it's pointless?"

I'd trained him well, he'd just forgotten most of it.

"Ugh, no!" I said. "Well yes, but no! Bonnie has a boyfriend."

"Yeah, Jeremy."

I left the table.

So it seems like I'm being super nosey and to a degree I am, but no one understands how rare this is. My friend, Bonnie Bennett, was in a relationship with a guy. And I had no idea who he was. The last time that happened, the guy ended up being the son of a psycho witch. The same psycho witch pretending to be Bonnie's teacher.

Tyler came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Hey babe."

"Don't hey babe me, you left again."

Tyler and I were supposed to be spending the night together while my mom had the night shift. He'd come over later than he should've, had sex, and then sometime during my passing out he'd left. Other girls would be suspicious of another girlfriend or even a random lowerclassmen groupie, but I had something bigger to worry about.

Klaus.

Tyler loved him. He wouldn't say it, but a sire bond sounds way too sketchy. Klaus would literally call Tyler at random times of the day and have him do something Tyler would never tell me. It bothered me to no end and frustrated me so bad I wanted to ram my old nail file into Klaus's jugular.

And now I was hungry.

"You know I had to," Tyler said in my ear.

"No you didn't." I told him. "You could've stayed with me."

"Klaus asked me to do something." Tyler said. "You know how that is."

I turned on him so fast, my hair blew. "Do I? Because you aren't telling me anything, you're sneaking away from me, and you're spending your nights with another guy. How far does the sire bond go exactly?"

Tyler looked like he wanted to kill me. "I told you never to say shit like that again."

"You are _not_ getting mad at me about this." I said. "I've been asking you for weeks to break the sire bond. I've been asking you to do this for us. Bonnie even said she'd help."

"It's not that simple, Caroline." He spat through gritted teeth. "You think I don't want to be there with you? You think I like leaving you?"

"No," I hissed back. "I think that if you wanted to, you'd do what you had to. You're grateful to Klaus for taking away your pain and giving you servitude. That's not a trade that's a rip off."

"I'm not doing this." Tyler said, backing away. "I'm not."

I shook my head. "You don't have to."

Not too long after that, I was driving home and meeting Bonnie. The good news is, I'd finally get my answers. The bad news was that I already had too much on my mind about my own boyfriend. I needed to call him back and set things right. I didn't like arguing with him, but I always hoped with eac of our fights it would drive him to want to get away from Klaus, it never did.

After my mom left, I sat down on my bed and patted it. "So what's up?"

I watched as Bonnie moved towards the spot I'd patted, and sat down. I didn't know who her boyfriend was, but I was certainly glad he'd gotten her out of her shell. This was the Bonnie I'd always known, the one with the amazing golden brown skin and the beautiful thick hair. Her clothes clung to her body and showed off her shape and her skirt gave a peek at those amazing legs of hers. This was the girl I knew she could be. I was so happy for her.

She took a deep breath and let it go. "I'm having boy trouble."

I was too smart for my own good. I smiled huge. "I knew it!"

Bonnie groaned. "Care,"

"Don't Care me, bitch!" I screamed at her. "I knew you were seeing someone! Name, height, eyes, hair, go!"

"Boy. Trouble!" She said.

I rolled my eyes. "Boys are always trouble, that's why we like them."

And it was true. In a world where girls are socialized to believe in pink and made to feel bad for opposing their self driven decisions, we loved boys. They were something different, something new. It was like going shopping for something and you had a choice of what kind of trouble you wanted to get in. Did you want the preppy boy who had access to parties and alcohol, or did you want the bad boy who knew about sex and weed? Did you want the sensitive boy who'd get why you hated him a week out of every month or did you want the jock who was bonded to an original vampire after his pain was taken away?

We see which one I chose.

"He's an asshole." Bonnie said.

What boy wasn't? "Find me a boy who isn't an asshole and he's either gay or dead. Or a puppy."

"A puppy?" she laughed.

Puppies could do no wrong.

I began firing questions at Bonnie. "Is he balding?"

She looked dazed. "No."

Which means he had amazing hair.

"Cross eyed?"

She looked like she was in a dream. "No."

Which meant his eyes were perfect. Shape, color, and depth.

I didn't even let her answer the ugly question, because she knew better.

"Little dick?" I cocked my head.

"God no." she half moaned.

Whoa. Confused vampire says what? "So you've seen it? What the hell aren't you telling me?"

Bonnie went on to tell me that she didn't know if he really felt the same way about her. She continued to tell me that he liked someone else. I rolled my eyes, it would figure. Bonnie was such a sweet girl, but she could be naïve at times. You never dated the guy who wanted someone else because he always wanted someone else. He would like her for awhile don't get me wrong, but that other girl would come shining through whenever she felt like it.

And then I would have to kill a few people.

Bonnie told me that she knew he liked her, really liked her, because she'd read his mind. There wasn't much I could do to fight that because she had a leg up in a situation most girls would kill for. If she thought he was okay, all I could tell her was to be careful. I loved her and I wanted her happy. I would have her back regardless.

She thanked me.

"Stop thanking me, tell me what he looks like." I commanded.

"Tall, dark hair, really good looking." She smiled wistfully.

Even though it wasn't hard to be taller than Bonnie, she had a great judge of height. Which meant that her boyfriend, whoever he was, had to be somewhere between five ten and six two, have brown or black hair, and be exceptional in the face.

That narrowed everything down. Way down.

The next day when I saw Bonnie, she looked better.

Whatever had been on her mind yesterday, she'd clearly come to a decision about it. Her shirt was a simple blue blouse and her jeans were tight. Her decision, worries, all of that had been made and laid to rest. I was happy for her really.

And I needed to find Tyler. He'd been acting super dodgy and disappearing around corners whenever he saw me. Luckily for me, I'd been walking past an empty history class and saw him.

I stepped inside and closed the door. Tyler was looking straight ahead at the bored with his hands clasped together. Seeing him like this, I realized how amazing he looked and how confused he was at the same time. After Bonnie left my house yesterday, I did some serious thinking. If Tyler couldn't sever the bond, maybe I could get Bonnie to do it for him. For us. I took a seat on the desk in front of him.

"I've heard getting to class before everyone else gets you extra points with the teacher."

He nodded. "I heard that too."

"Any reason why you're sitting here by yourself?" I asked.

"Just thinking." He said.

Tyler was a deeper person than he let on, so when he told me that, I could believe it. Under the macho exterior and the lady killer smile, Tyler was someone who actually had a great grasp on what was going on around him. He just didn't know how to deal with it.

"Am I losing you?" he asked.

"Why would you lose me?"

"Every time we talk, it goes back to the sire bond." He said. "It's always the sire bond. It's a part of me that you don't like and one I can't change. Is something that happened to me costing me my relationship with you?"

"Tyler you have to understand what the sire bond is to the rest of us." I replied. "To you it's a bond of gratitude and loyalty, but to us it's another way for Klaus to be here even when he's not. You go off to see him, you don't tell us where. He puts things in your head that you don't know about. You could hurt or kill either one of us and we wouldn't see you coming because we all still know and love you. It's not about what you can or can't change, it's about safety and trust that no one but me seems to believe in."

He nodded. "I tried warning Bonnie today."

"Why would you have to warn her?"

"I heard Klaus talking about Mystic Falls. I've been warning everybody."

"What was he saying?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I can't say."

I sighed. "I love you Tyler, you'll always have me."

"I love you too." His voice was deep as he stared straight ahead.

"But this is a decision you have to make for yourself. You can't be happy that someone wants to kill your friends. You can't be loyal to someone who wants me dead."

"I don't want to be." He said.

"Then don't." I said, coming to my knees in front of him. "Be who you are, be who you want, and I'll help you. We can do this together Tyler, you and me."

He was quiet for a second, dark eyes looking into mine. "You mean it?"

"I said it, right?" I said. "Caroline Forbes doesn't say shit she doesn't mean."

"Only shit that can be taken the wrong way." He smiled small.

"Usually by people with bad hair and low self esteem issues."

I kissed him softly. "I love you."

"I love you more." He said.

"Doubt it, sap, now cheer up. You know what sadness does to my hair."

It was game night.

For most girls game night meant getting dressed up in cute outfits that showed school spirit. For me, it was like going to war. Those other cheer bitches for the other team needed to go down. I'd trained these girls like their lives depended on it and they did. If even one of them was out of place, all of them would suffer.

"Where's Bonnie?" Elena asked, ponytail bouncing.

"I don't know, but she needs to get her ass here." I said. "We walk in like five minutes and if she isn't-"

A black nineteen seventy five mustang pulled up right next to us.

Bonnie got out of the passenger seat. Damon had been driving.

"Barbie!" he yelled when Bonnie was out of the car and standing between us.

"Fuck you!" I growled. I heard some of the girls behind me gasp.

"I'm sorry!" He yelled.

Wait. What?

"What?"

"You heard me. I'm sorry. For everything. We're good now."

Before I could say anything, he slammed the door shut. But not before I noticed him smile, just barely, at Elena.

He was gone.

I looked at Bonnie. "Did he just-"

Damon had never, ever, apologized to me for anything. For taking advantage of me, for using me to torment my friends, for making me feel like I was a pawn. His apology now was something he'd done in passing, but it was more than I'd ever gotten from him period.

He'd have to do better than that, but I could tell on some Damon level he'd meant it.

"Looks like it." She said, eyes bright.

"Why were you riding with him?" Elena asked.

"My car wouldn't start," Bonnie said.

_Thump. Thump. Thump._

Bonnie had just lied.

I knew it when she said it, she had the most hippiest car ever and the damn thing ran on sunshine and love, but hearing her heart speed up confirmed it. I kept my face blank though because the last thing I wanted to do was box her in a corner. I'd never find out anything then.

She asked me about Tyler, I told her.

Mystic Falls High was decorated in school spirit and wolf shit that really should be burned when the game was over. The girls and I moved in unison to the count in my head and I had to say that I was proud of them. Not too many people could handle being a cheerleader with me as captain, but these girls did it with style. And Bonnie actually looked into it for a change.

On the inside, we were winning.

Tyler and Matt were on fire, killing the opposing team. I did my toe touches and my V's and the rest of the girls followed. When it was halftime, we jogged out onto the court and took our positions. When the music started, so did we, hitting the routine we'd been practicing for a week straight for hours at a time and nailing the moves perfectly. We moved as a unit, capturing the attention of the fans and owning the court.

Bonnie went out and did her tumbling like we'd practiced. It wasn't until I saw her, whenever she did it, that I realized just how amazing she was. It was a sight to see the girl that no one expected this kind of fire from to come out and own everything. And Bonnie was on fire. She landed when the beat stopped and went into a split when it started back up.

The girls took her back preparing for her to fly.

"Are you ready MFH?!" I yelled.

The crowd screamed with me.

"I can't hear you!" I shouted. "Are you ready?!"

They were louder, deafening.

Bonnie was tossed into the air.

And it was amazing. She did a double full twist and arched her body as she came back down. When the girls caught her, the crowd went wild. This was the kind of thing I lived for. This was the kind of thing that made me forget I could rip this school apart when I got angry enough.

I ran up to Bonnie and the girls. "Bonnie, can you do it again."

She was feeling it too, the school spirit. "Definitely."

I turned around and walked back towards the crowd. "Whose house is this?!"

"WOLVES!" they screamed.

"WHO?!" I screamed.

"WOLVES!"

"HOWL FOR ME!" I commanded.

Everyone, and I do mean everyone, howled.

Elena grabbed my arm and turned me around.

Bonnie had gone up, but something was wrong. The flip she did looked like she'd bounced up on a trampoline and didn't know how to land. She'd gone backwards and was now on her back, kicking and screaming and grabbing at the air.

"I'll catch her." I said moving forward.

Luckily I didn't have to. The girls were trained well enough to hold each other's arms so that bonnie could fall and be unharmed. She looked dazed, no, she looked zoned out and when she got to her feet, the crowd cheered that she was okay.

And Bonnie ran off the court.

Elena, an out of nowhere Stefan, and I followed her into the parking lot. Bonnie was looking around frantically, a terrified look on her face. Matt and Tyler had followed us as well, Matt standing beside Elena and Tyler beside me. Bonnie turned around and saw all of us. Her eyes landed on Tyler. I heard a ringing.

Tyler was on the ground. I screamed.

"What the fuck did you do?" she hissed.

"I don't know what you're talking ab-" he tried.

"Lie to me again and I swear I'll change you in the middle of this parking lot."

We all stiffened.

She repeated the question, but I jumped in. "He said he doesn't know!"

Bonnie made a valid point about Tyler being weird, but it wasn't for the reason she thought.

What she said next threw us all for a loop. "Damon's my familiar."

Her what?

Jeremy, who I swore was still inside, beat me to it. "Your what?"

"Familiar," Stefan said looking shocked. "He's bonded to her by magic."

Yelling, a Jeremy placement, and a phone call to Alaric later and we were getting in our cars.

Bonnie was using magic to find Damon or at least the last sign of him. She said to go west and when I pulled out of the parking lot, we were quiet for a bit before I told her what I was thinking.

"You didn't have to do that to Tyler." I said.

"Yes, I did." She answered back, monotone.

"Bonnie I get that he's your familiar, but what was hurting Tyler going to do?"

"Put him in enough pain to break his sire bond and, when the pain stopped, he'd be free of Klaus so he could give me the answer I was looking for. Provided Klaus was behind all of this."

Despite the fact that it was a horrible plan, it would've worked. I'd give her that.

Driving along the road, my vampire vision kicked in and I could see everything clearly. We were approaching something in the street, a dark mass with debris and something else on the ground next to it. I flashed my taillights so Stefan and Elena would know we found something.

It was a car. It was Damon's mustang.

Bonnie was out of the car so fast, she was a blur. I grabbed my cheer jacket and slipped it on, it was an old habit whenever I went outside at night, and got out of the car. Stefan, Elena, and I all ran after her, slowing as the whole scene came into view. I could smell blood, and vampire, and burning tires and metal. I could smell the heart on the ground beside the dead vampire. The heart that Bonnie now held in her hand.

She said something and the vampire on the ground came to life.

It was the freakiest thing I'd ever seen and, when you're an undead creature of the night, that's saying something. Bonnie questioned him and when he didn't give an answer she was satisfied with, she squeezed the heart and I could smell old blood dripping down her palm and plopping on the ground. Once she deemed him useless, she tossed the heart.

"Bonnie," Elena asked in a small voice. "How did you do that?"

"Reading." She answered, looking around.

And then she took off into the trees.

Stefan and Elena ran after her, but…something else caught my attention. The smell was unique for it to be out here in the middle of the road. So unique, and faint, that I latched onto it and followed it as best I could. Stefan and Elena were calling Bonnie's name and I was walking towards Damon's car like I was in a trance. I dulled everything else around me, the sounds, the sights, everything, and was lead by my sense of smell.

Inside of Damon's car, the smell grew stronger. I sniffed the driver's seat and smelled Damon and something else. It smelled like lilies and peaches and mango body wash. The Ralph Lauren cologne was Damon's but the other stuff was Bonnie. She loved all of that kind of stuff from Bath & Body Works, and I remembered her gushing over getting the last ones in stock.

But that wasn't it.

This smell was sweeter, something more artificial than any of that. I could smell it by the head of the driver's seat and even more in the passenger. I was inside of Damon's car looking sniffing around like a damn bloodhound when I finally found it.

A tube of strawberry lip loss.

As soon as I picked it up, I connected the smell to the other parts of the car. In the passenger seat, in the _driver's_ seat. I knew this particular brand and flavor because I made all the girls wear it. It was cheer captain tradition. Every since I made varsity when I was a freshmen, I really am that good, our captain made us wear it because when we did, our teams, no matter the sport, won their games. I held the tube of lip gloss in my hand and stared at it with new eyes.

_Is he balding?_

_No._

Damon had thick hair that often fell into his eyes sometimes. Stefan remarked once or twice that Damon looked more Italian than he ever did. He'd gotten it from their mother's side.

_Cross eyed?_

_No._

Damon's eyes were the blue and straight and often piercing sometimes. If you didn't know him any better you would swear he was looking into your soul. Damon didn't care about the soul, though, he wanted what you could give him.

I didn't even bother with the ugly or the little dick. Both of those answers were no and I knew that from personal experience.

_He likes someone else, doesn't he?_

_She has a boyfriend, they're in love._

Elena. She meant Elena.

_Tall, dark hair, really good looking._

Damon was about six two, hair so black it looked unreal sometimes, and despite him being a major asshole he was still very attractive.

Oh my god. Bonnie and Damon.

I sped up to Stefan and Elena just as Bonnie came out of the forest. She dropped a shoe on the ground, I knew before anyone said anything that it was his. The look on her face, the breakdown she was trying to avoid and the emotion she'd exhibited, I could see it all over her face. She moved past us and walked back towards my car, her walk was stiff again.

"Caroline," Stefan said. "Did you find anything in Damon's car?"

I shoved my fists in my pockets, running my thumb over the tube.

I shook my head. "No. Nothing."

**A/N: I hope you guys like it and I hope you'll tell me if you didn't! I enjoyed typing this and I hope you guys read it and love it!**

**Also, I hope I did Caroline justice!**


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